International Journal of Qualitative Methods

Although focus groups are adaptable to unique situations, experts warn that the physical environment in which discussions take place should (a) be free from distractions, (b) be neutral, and (c) permit participants to face each other. In 2004 and 2005 the authors experimented with roving focus groups in the rural landscape of Michigan (USA). As they moved along in a vehicle, participants discussed features that contributed to and detracted from rural landscape character. Results from a follow-up survey supported focus group themes. Such a congruence of results provides confidence in the procedure and expands interpretation of the concept, rural character. Qualitative procedures are rarely used to evaluate landscapes. In this study roving focus group results provided reliable and valid policy-relevant criteria at sufficient detail for planning purposes. The authors demonstrate the technology used to record the focus groups and discuss the pros and cons and ways of improving this procedure.

In this article the author argues that research interviewing can be a form of research practice in which the subjects of study can object to the researcher's questions and the interview's theme. Researchers performing qualitative interviews should pay particular attention to situations where interviewees object to what we think, say, and write about them. The author draws on empirical examples where the objections and hesitations voiced by the interviewees toward the interviewer's questions became part of reconsidering the initial theoretical concepts guiding the research process. She argues that the interviewer should not provoke such situations but, rather, be sensitive enough to remain open to the possibility that the interviewee might feel a need to object to or refuse the researcher's interpretations. When this happens, it can allow for a fruitful exploration of the theme of conversation and the researcher's agenda.

Ethnography as method remains orthodox in its application. It is largely replicated through the lone field ethnographer model. In challenging this fieldwork model, the authors describe distance collaboration via the Internet linking two researchers across space and time in the fieldwork process: one in the field, the other home based. Using a reflexive, retrospective analysis of e-mail correspondence generated during the fieldwork experience, they explicate key factors in their successful collaborative effort. In addition, interchanges conducive to “thickening” the ethnographic inquiry are highlighted. The collaborative process, facilitated through the Internet, lent psychological strength to the field researcher and added to research quality, timeliness, and trustworthiness in this focused ethnography. Cybertechnology invites exploration of new approaches and resultant challenges in conducting ethnographic fieldwork.

The authors consider writing and supervising an autoethnographic thesis as a process of reconciling voices while finding one's own academic and personal voice. They draw from notions of polyphony to speak about how we negotiated with different voices (the voices of experts, research participants, personal affiliations, those used in our supervisory discussions) our way forward in the supervisory relationship, as well as in the thesis itself. They invite readers to draw their own meanings from these negotiations as they can relate to supervisory relationships and the writing of academic theses.

Cross-national field research performed in developing countries presents researchers with a number of obstacles. Challenges include creating equivalent samples, countering biases, and managing linguistic and cultural issues. In this article the author reviews the conduct of a cross-national study focusing on small tourism operators and the adoption of information communication technologies. He presents the research process, the issues encountered and how they were addressed are discussed, and a number of lessons. This article adds to our understanding of cross-national field research in developing countries and presents a number of implications for social science researchers.